Iran Cultural Fairs Institute Iran Cultural Fairs Institute was established as a non-governmental institute in 1992. The institute has been commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance to stage a number of cultural events, particularly the landmark annual Tehran International Book Fair (TIBF), provincial book fair and cultural festivals at home and abroad since the past two decades. The ultimate goal in such projects has been to promote and expand book reading. In the following there is a brief review of the institute’s activities: 1) Tehran International Book Fair (TIBF) Tehran International Book Fair is staged in Tehran early in May on an annual basis. The cultural event has turned into a landmark, momentous book fair in Middle East and Asia after 29 editions in a row. Millions of visitors inspect the fair every year, including thousands of university students, scholars, librarians, publishers and families. The event currently serves as the most significant cultural event in Iran. 2) Provincial Book Fairs Provincial book fairs have been staged across the Islamic Republic as a major cultural event with a first such exhibition held in 1993. From the outset, Iran Cultural Fairs Institute took on the mission to stage the events across the country under the auspices of the IRI Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Some 265 editions of such fairs have already been held in total. The events are held on an annual basis in 30 provincial centers countrywide. 3) Participation in Book Fairs Overseas Iran Cultural Fairs Institute has been representing the landmark Tehran International Book Fair and the Iranian publication industry at several international book fairs in Frankfurt, Bologna, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, Sharjah, Istanbul, and Paris among others. The institute has already joined over 70 book fairs overseas since 2006 and maintained a joint agreement for exchange of free-from-charge pavilions with authorities of many of these cultural events. 4) Publications in Contemporary Persian Literature The institute has already published over 200 titles in the field of contemporary Persian fiction, literature and poetry. Some of these titles have been translated into foreign languages. The institute is ready for agreements with interested foreign publishers for the purpose of further translation of such Persian works into other languages. Children’s books from Iran 3 Introduction More than 11,000 titles a year are published in Iran for children and young adults, not counting textbooks and supplementary learning resources for pri- mary and secondary education. Although translation of children’s and young adult books goes on in full force as well and the more-or-less best books of the world are quickly translated, sent to the market, and welcomed, more than 75% of the books published in Iran are original compositions and not translations. As a result, it is difficult to compile a catalogue that reflects a proper picture of Iranian children’s and young adult books and at the same time present a se- lection of these books that would be appropriate for translation and marketing all over the world. Selecting 200 books of about 8,000 titles is not easily done and needs apt measures. The task force that was formed to prepare this list had two options: Setting up a judging panel to go through the published books and selecting 200 of them. Trusting the choices of extensive lists and awards covering Iranian children’s and young adult books. This task force chose the second option. There are numerous governmental and non-governmental awards given to children’s books. As for the govern- mental awards, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance hands out Islamic Republic of Iran’s Book of the Year Awardand holds several festivals such as Best Book of the Season festival and ParvinEtesami Book Fair. The Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (Kanoon(Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children & Young Adults))holds the Chil- dren’s and Young Adult Book Festival every year. As for the nongovernmental section, the Children’s Book Council of Irannot only announces its selected books but also lists recommended books with their grading. Flying Turtle prints out a list of selected books each season by evaluating published books and at the end of the year gives Golden and Silver Flying Turtles to the best books of the year. Children’s books from Iran 5 Besides these awards and festivals, there are others like the Yellow Deer Award (chosen by parents and children), Best Book Award from Shahid Habib Ghanipour Book Festival, Superior Book Award in the Superior Book Festival held by the Cultural Society of Children’s Publishers,Poplar Award (the envi- ronmental award of Iran Technical Company), etc. Moreover, some Iranian books have been selected by foreign organizations and foundations and have received awards or foreign publishers have liked them and they have been published in other countries and in other languages. Therefore, the following standards have been adopted for choosing the books in this catalogue: Each book has appeared on at least one list (or has received one award) given by children’s literature organizations, whether governmental or nongov- ernmental. (If one volume of a series appears on a list they are introduced as a “series” here.) This list includes books which have been printed for the first time during the past eight years. Our standard for the Children’s Book Council’s and Flying Turtle Book List is that a book appearing on either of these lists must not have below 4 points. If a book has appeared on the two lists but has scored less than 4 points there, it has not been chosen for this catalogue. Each writer has at most 5 titles on the list (Series are considered as one title.) A part of the list is dedicated to books that have been translated into a language other than Persian and have some outstanding feature. As poetry is essentially untranslatable and a major part of it will be lost in translation, there are just a few but dissmilar samples chosen from poetry col- lections to reflect the ambience of Iranian children’s and young adult poetry. As this year’s book lists have not yet been released by any organization, we have tried to include books by renowned writers and publishers of children’s and young adult literature so as to maintain variety. Under 6 6 Children’s books from Iran Picture Book A Little Black, a Little White A Person, A Nose Written by Hamide Zahed Shekarabi Written by Abbas GhadirMohseni Illustrated by Samane Ghasemi Illustrated by Sana HabibiRad Published by Kanoon Published by Elmi Farhangi (Institute for the Intellectual Development Publishing Co. of Children & Young Adults) “A Little Black, a Little White” is a story about There was a person with no nose and there two black and white rabbits who get familiar was a nose with no person. with each other and during seven days while The person with no nose and the nose with they are playing, some events happen for no person accidentally met. Suddenly, the them and they learn a lot of things from each nose jumps and sticks itself on the left ear other. of the person. Afterwards, the person smelt These two little rabbits live in different places. with the left ear and heard with the right ear. The black one lives in a jungle and the white The person was confused the nose knew it one life in a farm. Their different homes and was a mistake. The nose left the left ear for their different viewpoints lead them learn the right eye. In short, the nose changed its many things. place on the nose several times, making the Text and illustrations of this book are in a person several times, and finally found the suitable harmony with each other, which attracts right place. Then there was no person without the audience and makes it suitable for children. a nose and no nose without a person. This book focuses on two main subjects: This imaginative story, with a person without game and difference, which are both very a nose and a nose without a person, has important. no winner or loser and both characters are winners. This is a book that can develop the imagination of children with both its subject and the paintings. Children’s books from Iran 9 Under 6 Picture Book Are You a Stork or a Woodpecker? A Wolf in the Wardrobe Be Careful Not to Be Eaten by Lulu Furry Lulu Little Worm Written and Illustrated by Ali Khodaei Written and Illustrated by Nayyereh Taghavi Written by Ma’soumeh Yazdani Designed and Written by Zohrehe Parirokh Published by Kanoon Published by Nazar Publishing House Illustrated by Sahar Khorasani Illustrated by Hassan AmmehKan (Institute for the Intellectual Development (Khorous Books) Published by Elmi Farhangi Publishing Co. Published by Kanoon of Children & Young Adults) (Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children & Young Adults) When you open the first page of this book, A Wolf in the Wardrobe is a simple story about you can see a picture of a woodpecker and if the childish world. This book is about a little The protagonist of this book is named Hanna, The protagonist is a silkworm called Lulu. you open the first folded page, a frog is shown boy who is scared that a wolf comes their a little girl playing with other children in the One day, a dewdrop that has remained on the and when you open the next folded page, an home. His fear comes true and a wolf comes backyard of her grandmother’s house.